another one bites the dust...

It snowed here this morning! The day wasn't as exciting but I did get to see some of my own follow up patients so that was good. Fridays are admin day at the HC so after the usual morning sick clinic we are able to catch up on some of our monitoring of patients and labs. The room I'm in is the "love bug" room, which is a cute way of saying we monitor the STIs. When we get back a positive urine sample, we have to treat and contact trace. It sounds not too exciting, but it's great because it's easy to see progress and check off the list! Plus, after every treatment my preceptor sings the "another one bites the dust" song :) Since I've seen enough, I can go through these patients myself.
There was another seizure today but since I wasn't nurse on call I wasn't as involved. This one was an adult with a history, so he wasn't medevaced but just monitored in the HC for the day on an IV and dilantin.
Going into my first weekend (hopefully some pictures to come!) and on call again on Sunday, which will hopefully be just a little less eventful...
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

on call

Hey everyone!
So I only got a few hours of sleep after being on call and having to wake up at 6 for online PBL, but here goes the night! After supper we had a couple calls which, as I mentioned, were dealt with and resolved well. Then, a child called the nurse on call line and told us we had to come to the health centre because someone had a seizure. We jumped in the truck and drove down to find a child and adult huddled on the steps. We brought them in to the emerg room (which has a bed, oxygen, IV pole, etc) and checked the girl over. She was stable but very tired and kept dozing off. Then the RCMP officer came in to warn us he was bringing in another person, so we quickly contacted our second for backup (there are always two nurses on call here, one gets the calls - this is first on call- and the other has to be available within 15 minutes to come and help if needed). She came in and helped with the basics: inserting an IV, taking a urine sample, and helping with the head to toe and vitals monitoring. As my nurse was phoning for a doctors consult (because the nurses here can give many drugs without a doctor but there is once group of medications that needs a verbal order, like the anticonvulsant we gave). Because we were unable to determine what had caused the seizure, which is not just something that should happen in an average young teenager without a cause like a head injury, toxin, etc, the doctor approved a medevac to Yellowknife. This means we call the medevac company and get them to come, which usually takes just over an hour. As we were monitoring the patient and getting the paperwork ready, the patients mum went home to pack. On the medevacs, children and those who are medically unstable are able to have one escort go with them. Luckily, she stayed stable and continued to improve on her alertness (although she was still incredibly sleepy). I drove out with the second on call to pick up the medevac nurse (and saw the most stunning 1:30am pseudo-sunset of my life!) and bring her back to the HC. We gave report and she took over the patient and went back in the truck with mum and girl to take off in the plane. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Stanton Territorial in Yellowknife. After cleaning up the emerg room and once again checking the lights and windows were all good for the night, we came home and crashed, waiting for the next phone call to come in.
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

yesterday

I was about to post this last night when we got called out again...so another update on last night/this morning will come today!

Today was Well Child day at the Health Centre, so I got to see some amazing children! One was just 4 days old, gaining weight well, and a full head of hair! Today was also my first day of nurse on call (not just me of course, but following my preceptor) and I’m only part way through that so I’ll have to keep you posted. Much of the community has gone out on the land as it is a fantastic day out, so we didn’t have many calls during the day but have a had a few tonight since supper and had to head back to the HC to see three patients. I was invited to a barbeque with some other nurses and RCMP which was fun (and no one noticed that my “burger” was just tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, and cheese!) The land is absolutely beautiful, I still can’t get over looking out the window of our office to see the ice starting to melt on the water and the backdrop of rocks and just the starts of grass. I’m hoping that my camera will cooperate to get at least a couple of shots in (since I left Hamilton it won’t focus anymore unless I zoom to the exact right level which means most of the shots have to be closer in than I want).

see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

made it!

Hi everyone,
I arrived in Kugluktuk this afternoon and am briefly on some borrowed internet until I can get mine set up. The flights were fantastic and I got to see a tour from above of the ice and snow that are still hanging around these parts. After a brief period of being separated from my luggage ("Where do I get my bags?", "Well if you go outside there's a piece of wood...") I got picked up and driven around a quick tour of town a d a walk through the health centre. Settling in tonight and my first day tomorrow!
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk!!!!

Yellowknife

Hi everyone! Well, I successfully made it all the way to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories! The first picture is of me just before leaving Hamilton (yep, the suitcase was exactly 50lbs!) Left from Mississauga this morning at 6:15 and had the shortest check in time ever at the airport (no delays, only one bag, didn't even need to show my passport!) The flight was fantastic and had a TV in the seat, very fancy. Had a quick stopover in Edmonton where it was snowing, but luckily after a switch to s smaller plane and 2 hour hop across a mass of lakes and melting ice (so much water! Good thing I took that elective, which allows me to tell you that I saw some perfectly textbook oxbow lakes from above). The second shot is of gorgeous Yellowknife! I couldn't see the town until we were almost on the ground, but the taxi driver told me it is about 26,000 people and growing with jobs in mining and other industries. My hotel is on the outskirts of town near the airport, but in the picture you can see across the lake to downtown Yellowknife. It is hot and sunny here and I've managed to pick up some groceries (soup, canned beans, laundry detergent, duct tape, and a couple veggies) and settled in for a bit. Looking forward to getting some sleep and getting ready for my flights to Kugluktuk tomorrow!
see you soon,
kirsten (still not in kugluktuk, but a whole lot closer!)

Getting ready

Hi everyone! Well, it is t-minus four days until I leave. I am about half packed (and probably over the 44lb weight limit for the turboprop already). It's 30+ almost everyday this week in Hamilton, which is not so good for my weather transition, and also means I can't pack away the shorts in the basement yet! Last few days of work and play here, of course hoping the Bulldogs win tonight, and then I'm off! Counting the sunsets :)
Keep an eye every so often for updates! I depart for Yellowknife on Sunday and then on to Kugluktuk for Monday afternoon (where we are 1 hour ahead of Pacific time and 2 hours behind Eastern time, fyi)
see you soon,
kirsten (not yet in kugluktuk)